Barnoya Collaborating on Two Newly Funded R21s

November 9, 2017

Joaquin Barnoya, MD, MPH, associate professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, has received funding as a co-investigator on a new two-year, National Institutes of Health (NIH) R21 grant focused on decreasing childhood obesity through a reduction in sugary drink consumption and assessing research capacity of the Cancer Institute (INCAN) in Guatemala.

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Associate Professor of Surgery, Division of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine

The grant, preventing non-communicable diseases in Guatemala through sugary drink reduction and capacity building, is led by Christina Roberto, PhD of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Barnoya is a key person in Guatemala and is responsible for constructing, coordinating and implementing capacity building and reported outcomes with INCAN. The long-term goal and its focus on capacity building is to train INCAN faculty and trainees to evaluate policy interventions that affect community members, and ultimately, to consider health impacts in future research studies.

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Dr. Barnoya also received funding as a site principal investigator in a separate two-year, NIH R21 grant. Dr. Barnoya will work with Peter Rohloff, MD, PhD, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital on building capacity for chronic kidney disease research in Guatemala. He will be responsible for managing research efforts in Guatemala. In this study, Dr. Barnoya and colleagues hope to identify potential causes of chronic kidney disease in specific ethnic populations and geographical locations. Outcomes will help physicians understand ethnic disparities for chronic kidney disease patients, and improving prevention and screening interventions. This project also connects the United States and Guatemala in a concerted effort to bridge the urban-rural divide against the growing common diagnosis of chronic kidney disease.